that’s all right.’
‘Sure. But why?’
‘Ever see The Lion in Winter?’
He shook his head. He’d shaved and combed his hair back but it was rebelling.
‘Get the video out and have a watch. It turned me off Geoffreys.’
He grinned, unplugged the toaster and took it to the sink where he shook the crumbs out. I read the front page of the paper while I drank the coffee. The content was ninety per cent economic and ten per cent sex. With the tabloids it’s the other way around. I’m not sure that either is healthy. Drugs rather than performance dominated the sports page. As a newly acquired habit, I opened up at the obituaries. An ancient bishop had died and a slightly older philosopher. Maybe they could sort it out in the hereafter. I sighed and put the paper away. Geoff wiped the toaster down and put it back on the bench.
‘Semi-buggered, Cliff,’ he said. ‘But it’ll probably last forever like that.’
I set it for medium and dropped in two slices of bread. ‘Geoff, that’s a bit like how I feel myself sometimes.’
He took the paper and turned to the cryptic crossword. Jesus, I thought, one of those.
He filled in a few spaces rapidly, then clicked his pen and looked at me. ‘So what’s our first move?’
The first move should have shattered any illusions about the romance of the private detective business Geoff might have entertained. We paid a call on Damien Talbot’s mother and got precisely nowhere. According to a neighbour, the police and the media had seen the woman and then she’d packed a bag and left without saying where she was going.
It wouldn’t have surprised Cyn that the second move I made with her son in tow was to call on a prostitute. I could’ve sent him off on some useless errand but I didn’t see any point in protecting him from the harsh realities, and I had an inkling of a real use I might have for him, so it was better if he was fully in the picture.
I’d rung Annette and made the arrangement to see her strictly on a business basis – my business, not hers. She chiacked me about it, but agreed to see me. A small piece of information I’d scribbled down had assumed significance.
Annette opened the door and posed. She wore a white satin blouse with long sleeves and lots of lace on the front, a white skirt, white stockings and shoes. She had a scrap of white silk in her hair.
‘My eleven o’clock gets off on his bride fantasies,’ she said. ‘Who’s your good-looking young friend?’
We stepped into the room and I nodded to Geoff to close the door. ‘This is Geoff. He’s learning the ropes.’
‘I could teach him a few tricks. You too, Cliff.’
‘I’m sure. Knock it off, Annette. Just a few questions. I’ll pay for your time.’
‘Two hundred. Three if you keep the groom waiting.’
‘I won’t.’ I gave her the money. We all sat. She rolled the notes tightly, hitched up her skirt and tucked them into the top of her stocking, making sure that we saw the suspenders and the lace panties.
‘Very nice,’ I said. ‘Now, you told me that Talbot was impotent.’
‘Right. It happens a lot. Poor things. But I don’t include him in that.’ She winked at Geoff who blushed furiously.
‘And you gave him the name of a clinic. Which clinic?’
She adjusted the lace that came down from her wrists over the tops of her hands. She had nice, slender hands and wore a wedding ring. ‘I’m not so sure I can tell you that.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’ve got a sort of arrangement with them. I get a spotter’s fee you might call it. I don’t think they’d like the idea of me…’
‘Look,’ I said. ‘I won’t mention you. No chance. You won’t come into it.’
‘I don’t know. I’ve got a good deal there.’
With that sort of an arrangement it was a sure bet she’d have the name and number written down somewhere, maybe even have a card. I could find it by applying the right pressure and maybe I would have if Geoff hadn’t been there.
I took out the picture of Eve French and held it in my hand. ‘Annette, she’s my daughter. She’s on the run with this Talbot bastard and I need a lead on him. There’s a chance he went to the clinic. I need the information.’
She studied me for a few very long seconds, then got up and walked out of the room. She came back and handed me a card. ‘If you catch him, give him a fucking good kicking for me.’
I kissed her cheek. ‘Thanks. I will. And I think you look terrific’
‘You should’ve seen me when I was Geoffs age.’ She did a quick, expert bump and grind.
Geoff looked at me strangely as we left the building.
‘You said she’s your daughter. I thought you had doubts about that.’
‘I do. That was just to get past her objection to telling me about the clinic’
‘Mm.’
“What does that mean?’
‘Mum said you could be a bit of a shit.’
‘She was right. You have to be in this game. Can you drive a manual?’
‘Of course I can.’
I tossed him the keys. ‘Don’t get your back up. A lot of young people can’t these days. How about you drive while I think.’
‘Where are we going?’
We got into the car and I examined the card Annette had given me. I laughed. ‘It’s called Potential. “Realise your full sexual potential blah, blah.” It’s in Paddington. Does a North Shore type like you know his way around Paddo?’
For an answer he started the motor, dropped neatly into first and took off smoothly. He drove well, without flourishes but handling the car nicely in the traffic and maintaining a good pace. Unlike a lot of young people, he seemed to be able to do things without having music blaring at him. Maybe he was tone deaf, but I guessed he had something on his mind. I did my own thinking and let him do his.
‘She seemed like a nice woman,’ he said suddenly when we stopped at a light. ‘That Annette.’
‘I’d say so.’
‘Umm, have you ever been with a prostitute?’
‘On occasion.’
We moved off in heavy traffic and he concentrated until he’d positioned himself where he wanted to. ‘What’s it like?’
I took my time in answering. Maybe I was a father, maybe I wasn’t, but either way I wasn’t comfortable in this kind of role. But the kid was serious and needed a response. ‘Unsatisfactory, unless she happens to be a friend.’
He nodded and chewed it over. At the next stop he said, ‘Got any cassettes?’
I opened the glove box and produced the only one I had. ‘Edith Piaf.’
‘Who?’
‘French cabaret singer. Before your time.’
‘I’ll give it a miss. Have you been to France?’
‘Yeah. A couple of times. Briefly.’
He moved out and passed a truck. ‘I’ve never been out of Australia.’
‘Plenty of time, Geoff. Plenty of time.’
‘I guess. Not for Mum, though. Well, she and Dad went overseas a couple of times so I suppose she’s got the memories.’
‘That’s about all it comes down to. What did you and your sister do when they were away?’ As soon as I spoke I thought: What am I getting into all this shit for?
‘Dad’s sister, Aunt Jessie, looked after us. Out in the country. Great fun for us, we didn’t mind.’
Happy families, I thought. The couple of pseudo aunts and uncles I had lived in places like Kingsford and Botany. No fun there, just more of the same. And as far as I knew no member of my family had gone overseas
